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TonyVision - I can't begin to thank you enough. I'll be in contact via e-mail soon re: your custom title.
Wow! You really blew me away. Not only should I thank you, but all the people who will greatly benefit from your most generous donation should thank you as well.

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Kateyes39, MarlaL & PORKY5 (et. al)

As you all may have noticed, I recently instated posting limits for non-contributors. This wasn't something I wanted to do but I haven't been given much of a choice in the matter.

Let me explain how these forums work.
The Forums are a service provided by ezBoard. Note the Powered By ezboard link at the bottom of every page. They host the forum on their servers and provide all the technical support.
ezBoard provides two types of service: a free board with many banner ads and worst of all...multiple Pop-ups; and an ad-free Gold board for a fee. We've been enjoying the Gold board for almost 3 years now, all thanks to the contributions of a very tiny fraction of our members.

PORKY5 said:

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how do we "really" know how much has been donated

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That information is easily accessible on the Forum's main page via this link: View Contributors Donations to this community go directly to ezBoard for the sole purpose of providing this ad-free service. For more detailed information on how contributions are made and used, visit this link: Community Chest.

The amount that ezBoard charges depends on traffic, a.k.a. Page Views (there's a graph towards the bottom of this link that explains it all: Gold Community) Our community currently averages 680 daily visits (you can see for yourself in the Community Forums Information on the forums main page).

The reason for limiting posts is pretty simple. Some members of this community use up a disproportionate amount of the forums resources. And despite yearly promises to add a little to the pot if needed ( by the way, its always needed), these high volume users never do.

The average visitor makes less than 5 posts a day. And they use these forums for the purpose in which they were intended: to find old friends and neighbors and to discuss topics that generally have something to do with Co-op City.

One high volume user in particular has accumulated a whopping 1,877+ posts within 2002-2003 alone. If you want to blame anyone for the current addition of posting limits you should blame those inconsiderate members who:
*use multiple usernames
*carry on entire pages of conversations with themselves
*post hundreds of off-topic, content free postings of smilies (you dont know how close they came to being turned off)
*compose multiple single sentence/ single word posts.

All these actions are considered Spam.

Spam is subject to deletion and repeated spamming will subject those members (and their aliases) to being banned from the community. These members are parasitic to the community as a whole and hinder the basic mission of these forums. They use up precious resources while providing nothing (not even relevant discussion) in return.

So until I complete the update of the Board Rules, the following will be strictly enforced:
Spam - as defined above, and including posts consisting of substantially identical content, will be deleted and repeated violators will be banned without further notice.

Now, before anyone gets their nose bent out of shape, if none of the above points or actions apply to you, then it wasnt intended to define you as a member. Those who are guilty of the above actions know who they are and have already been put on notice.

In closing, Id like to thank all of you who have consistently made positive contributions, whether it be financially and/or in the thoughtful, informative & relevant content of your postings. You make our community richer with your presence.

And please dont let TonyVisions generosity stop you. Like Ive said before, donations to our Community Chest are always needed, since whatever isnt used this year will roll over towards the next.
I wont know exactly how much will be needed to get this years worth of Gold until 30 days prior to the expiration of our current subscription. I hope that the recent setting of posting limits will have a lowering effect on that calculation. But I think its safe to say that it will be more than it was last year.

Remember it doesnt matter when a donation is made, but that a donation no matter how small, is made at all.

Again... "If it don't apply... let it fly."

All I want is for everyone to do what is best for the Community.

While I'm at it, I think I should add another point. Donations made to the board do not have any bearing on the enforcement of the Board Rules. The rules are the rules are the rules.
It follows that anyone who's at all interested in supporting the community with a dollar or two would already be supporting the community thru their actions on the forums. Let that continue to be the case.

TonyVision First off, I'm sorry about your loss. I'm sure this all seems just so petty to you. And I'm glad that you've had such a positive experience here recently.

And please don't apologize for your support!!! Youve done nothing to start a controversy. I think the ill feelings stem solely from the institution of the 5-post limit. It had to be done as an administrative measure because the abuse of a few whom Ive already spoken to concerning their actions. Hopefully the post limits will cut down on that spam and encourage more thoughtful posting.

I was strongly considering the text ad trial since my main concern has always been with Pop-up ads, not ads in general. All my other boards had banner ads and if ezBoard offered a banner ad only option, we would still have them. Plus I figured that if the text ads were really all that bad, I'd still have the Chest to fall back on after the 6 month trial.

Im also considering independent banner ads. But that will have to wait until I revamp my entire site. In its current state, I dont think I could encourage local advertisers to sign on. And I really want to keep it local and relevant to Co-op City. Thats why Ive been hemming and hawing over the Free Gold promotion. The text ads are customized via the keywords contained in a given topic, but will they show advertisements that have anything to do with Co-op City or even the Bronx? I guess a two-week trial would show what its going to be like for the whole 6 months.

Ive considered MBA (Membership By Approval), but discounted it since despite what the membership count says, there really arent that many unique & repeat visitors to support an MBA board. I also considered limiting Page Views to registered members only, in addition to restricting #s of posts. That would cut down the cost tremendously. But it would completely hinder the mission of the Reunion forum and hurt this one as well. Weve always had more loiterers than participants. Loitering is not the problem. I want new visitors to be able to view the boards and decide to join the conversation or not. Its the current abuse of the bandwidth by only a couple of people that may jeopardize the continuation of these forums in their current state for everyone.

1countrygirl said

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However, if a person donates just $1 that will entitle them to post to their hearts content, is that correct? And a person who donates $100 may not be able to say all they want, correct?

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No. That is not correct. No one is paying to be able to break the Board Rules. The goal has always been to amass multiple small donations of $5 or less to keep the board Pop-up free.

Note that users who have ezSupporter accounts have unlimited posting ability as well. That's despite the fact that they do not contribute to our Community Chest. ezSupporters don't see pop-ups no matter what board they visit in the ezBoard system. And as a result of that service, their page views are not calculated by ezBoard on the forums that they visit. That's what makes the donations of ezSupports even more special. They don't have to do it so they won't see pop-ups, they do it out of the kindness of their hearts.

Now, due to the large-scale spamming of these Forums this past year, the projected cost to keep the Pop-ups away has risen dramatically. Within one week its gone up twice. In order to prevent the actions of a few to impact the enjoyment of the majority of visitors, the posting limits were set in place.

The vast majority of individual visitors make far fewer than 5 posts a day. So in an effort to impact the least amount of people, by setting up a 5 day maximum on posts I can keep the boards open for viewing by everyone, open for posting for everyone and still Pop-up free.


MarlaL & Kateyes39 - I clearly stated that if any of what I said did not apply to the way you conduct yourselves on these forums then it did not apply to you. If you dont simultaneously use multiple accounts and if I haven't contacted you re:spam/flamming/trolling of these boards, then again, none of this applies to you.

Kateyes39 said

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just let me know when I am no longer welcomed as a "unpaying poster/resident" of this forum....
Casals (without being disrespectful) I don't need another lecture about how the ezboard works I understand it's not free to you & I understand you put a lot of work into...That Is why I try to be a responsible poster

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If you are a responsible poster, and if you have a full understanding of how these boards work then none of the above (or below) applies to you. Please disregard.

The contributions insure that there are no pop-ups for contributors and non-contributors alike.

Now with that said, should people who have put out their money have to support persons who insists on spamming the boards? Or should potential donors have to fear that their contribution might not be enough because those people keep making the cost rise higher and higher? Who would donate if there were no hope that they would get what they were paying for? If the incessant spamming stops then I may be able to revoke the posting limits. The people who have donated (recently including Pluto222) should not have to support one or two people who insist on abusing the boards and thus jeopardizing the whole purpose of their contribution.

***edit - Left some things out.***

Thanks Waterlog!!!!
One little tree comin' up!
And yes. You've helped more visitors than you'll ever know.